


Earth Is a Good Place to Be Different with You

by Fangirl_on_a_bicycle



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (more accurately fuck or poof), Comeplay, Cunnilingus, Discussion of Pregnancy, F/F, Finger Sucking, Fuck Or Die, Gems In Heat, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Messy, Penis In Vagina Sex, Porn with Feelings, earns the explicit rating in later chapters, lapis and pearl as exasperated wingmen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-10 12:20:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14736863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_on_a_bicycle/pseuds/Fangirl_on_a_bicycle
Summary: "Gems used to be born, not made.....did the Crystal Gems really not tell you that?"Peridot and Amethyst go into heat, to the surprise of themselves and everyone else.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [berlynn_wohl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/berlynn_wohl/gifts).



> This fic is dedicated to berlynn-wohl, who isn’t even in this fandom, for all but daring me to write this at 221b con over a year ago!
> 
> I also owe a great deal to my beta, anarfea, whose comments and suggestions made this fic so much better. 
> 
> A big thank you as well to all the people who listened to me whine and encouraged me and got excited about this fic, whether on tumblr or in chat. 
> 
> Last but not least, please note that I started writing this months before Raising the Barn aired and didn’t want to start over. So this is an AU of sorts where Lapis hasn’t taken the barn. Such is the problem with writing fanfiction for Steven Universe!

Amethyst was sitting on Steven’s bed when she heard the warp pad activate. She glanced back at Steven’s alarm clock before looking towards the warp pad. Peridot was a good ten minutes early. 

“Hey, Peridot!” Steven was behind the TV, making sure all the right cables were connected. 

Peridot smiled up at both of them as she came up the steps, and Amethyst smiled back in response. 

“Hello Amethyst! Your hair looks nice like that.” 

Amethyst had felt uncomfortably hot when she’d woken up, so she’d put her hair up in a ponytail. Peridot’s compliment made her feel warm all over again, and self-conscious about how much she was smiling. “Uhhh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome! And hello, Steven! What game are we playing today?”

They’d started having a day of games nearly every week. Sometimes board games, sometimes video games. Peridot caught onto some of them faster than others, but it was always entertaining either way. 

Steven came back around to the front of the television. “Lonely Blade! We can do it two-player and give you a chance to learn it.” 

Amethyst sat up and reached for a controller. “Yeah, that way you won’t die immediately if you don’t get it; we can show you how to do stuff before you have to fight something really fast.” 

Peridot sat down and Steven launched into a description of which buttons did what. Amethyst tuned him out, and listlessly fiddled with the end of her ponytail; she already knew how to play Lonely Blade.

Amethyst looked over at Peridot. Peridot had fluffy short little hairs at the nape of her neck. She’d never noticed that before. She suppressed the urge to touch them and see if they were as soft as they looked. Geez, it was hot in the house today. Maybe she should open a window.

“Amethyst? Did you want to play with me and show Peridot how the game goes?” She startled, realizing Peridot and Steven were looking up at her. 

“Yeah, sure.” What the hell? Since when did she stare at Peridot’s neck? 

They were a fairly even match most days, but today, Steven soundly kicked her ass. Amethyst found it hard to care, though. 

“Here, let Peridot have a turn.”

As Amethyst handed over the controller, their fingers touched, and Amethyst felt a small jolt. Peridot must’ve felt it too; she looked confused. Matter of fact, Peridot was just looking up at her, like she was looking for something. Amethyst’s mouth went dry.

Steven finally spoke and broke the spell. “Uhhh….Peridot? You ready to play?” 

Peridot dragged her eyes away. “Yes! Yes. I want to try.”

Amethyst let her mind drift again with something like relief; she didn’t want to admit she didn’t feel like playing video games, but she wasn’t sure what she  _ did _ want. She sprawled on Steven’s bed again, stretching a little. The duvet was so soft. She rolled over to watch the game and idly rubbed it with one hand.

“Press B and then A!” Steven’s voice broke through her daze, and she blinked and looked at the screen just as Steven’s character stabbed Peridot’s through the middle and Peridot growled in frustration.

Amethyst closed her eyes, listening to Lonely Blade’s theme music and Peridot and Steven discussing the finer points of combination moves, letting the sounds and sensations wash over her as she dozed. 

She had no idea how much time had passed when she woke up to the sound of the front door. Pearl walked in with an armload of grocery bags as Amethyst sat up. 

Pearl looked over the edge of the loft. “Steven, have you eaten dinner?”

“No, not yet.” 

“Hello, Peridot! Did you want to stay?”

“No, thank you. I should be heading back anyway.”

Peridot and Steven walked down the steps, chattering, and Amethyst followed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She still felt tired. Gotta stop the midday napping. 

“Sorry I wasn’t more help today, guys.”

Peridot stood on the warp pad and turned to look back at Amethyst and Steven. “It’s okay, next time. Oh! Amethyst, you should come over to the barn tomorrow! I found a movie with two cast members of Camp Pining Hearts!” 

“Sounds like fun. Text Steven’s phone and I’ll be right over.” 

“Okay!” Peridot paused. Her mouth opened, and then closed, like she was going to say something but forgot what. “Uh, I’ll, um, see you tomorrow!” And she was gone with a flash. 

What was that about? Whatever. 

“Amethyst? Were you going to eat with Steven?”

“Nah, I think I’m going to my room.”

Why was she so tired? She found her nest of blankets and soft things, lay down, and promised herself she’d try to figure it out...but not right now. 

And if her dreams were filled with more green than usual, she didn’t remember them.

 

* * *

 

 

Peridot pushed the VHS tape into the player. There were reluctant mechanical noises as the player sucked it into place, and Peridot adjusted the tracking before sitting down next to Amethyst, already settled into the couch.

Amethyst had her hair pulled back again. Peridot decided it was very aesthetically pleasing. 

Amethyst had brought some food with her, and as she pulled it out of a bag and identified the contents, Peridot noticed a nice smell. “Popcorn--I made that just today before coming over--and some Sour Patch Kids, and some old metal washers!” 

“I don’t think the washers are considered a food item.”

“Nah, but I like how crunchy they are.”

The movie, as it turned out, was truly terrible. But Amethyst made hilarious comments about it, which made the experience worth it. When she wasn’t laughing, Peridot tried nibbling both the popcorn and candy. They were interesting. The popcorn was soft and crunchy and heavily salted. The candy was supposedly people-shaped but Peridot couldn’t see the resemblance; the colors were gem-like, though. The taste was just sour at first but settled into an artificially-flavored sweetness. Both items seemed to want to get stuck in her teeth. The metal washers she left alone. 

Neither item tasted like the scent Amethyst brought with her. Maybe it was something from her room? But her room mostly smelled faintly of old earth junk, and this was almost like food, but not quite. What was it? She found herself scooting closer to Amethyst.

Amethyst didn’t seem to mind. She let Peridot sit close enough that their shoulders and legs were touching. When Peridot leaned into her a little, she leaned in too, one hand still occasionally putting food (or the washers, which really did make quite the crunching sound) in her mouth between wisecracks, every motion making the end of her ponytail brush against Peridot’s shoulder. It tickled, but she liked it. Amethyst eventually finished all of her snacks, and wiggled around until her head was resting in Peridot’s lap, still watching the movie and making occasional jokes. She was so warm. Peridot started fidgeting with the ends of Amethyst’s ponytail, wrapping it around her fingers before letting it slide through them, over and over and over. It was slippery and soft. Amethyst reached back and undid the ponytail, letting her hair fall over Peridot’s lap, before she stuck her own fingers in her mouth with a sigh. They must taste like salt and sour candy and a little rusty. The combination probably tasted interesting.

She looked at Amethyst’s body, sideways on the couch, and wondered to herself how Amethyst could be so visually appealing. She was like most quartzes in shape, really, if a little rounder; but the same height as Peridot herself. A Peridot-sized quartz. That was a funny thought. Peridot smiled and ran her fingers all the way through Amethyst’s hair, and Amethyst shivered a little and made a humming sound around her fingers, so Peridot did it again. Amethyst sure did smell good. Like something Peridot wanted to eat, almost. It made her mouth water like the popcorn and candy did.

“Amethyst, you smell really nice.”

Amethyst rubbed her face against Peridot’s thigh, just a little, and Peridot felt it so much she almost didn’t hear Amethyst’s answer. “Mmm. So do you.” 

The VHS player thunked to a stop and neither of them noticed. Peridot brushed her fingers through Amethyst’s hair and kept going down her back; the hair sprang back up. Amethyst made that little humming sound every time, so Peridot did it again and again, until she was unable to resist temptation and  brushed her fingers over the curve of Amethyst’s body, from her shoulder down to her waist where it spread to her hips. Amethyst shivered. She rolled over in Peridot’s lap, looking up at her with furrowed brows. Her fingers were still in her mouth. Peridot brushed the long bangs off of Amethyst’s face and her eyes fluttered closed with a soft sigh. Peridot wanted to touch Amethyst’s mouth. Peridot wanted to touch Amethyst everywhere. Peridot wanted to touch Amethyst everywhere with her mouth. She licked her lips. She could taste Amethyst in the air. 

Neither of them heard Lapis come into the barn. They didn’t notice her at all until she stood in front of the TV and groaned, “Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.” 


	2. Chapter 2

They both blinked at her as though waking up. Lapis scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms over her chest. Peridot looked at the fading light which filtered through the barn and realized the movie must have ended at least an hour ago.

“It reeks in here. Can’t you two do this somewhere else?”

Simultaneously: “Do what?”

It only now occurred to Peridot how weird this was. She and Amethyst were not in the habit of cuddling.

Meanwhile Lapis’s face went through a series of emotions Peridot couldn’t quite place,  finally settling into disbelief.

“You really don’t know? Either of you?”

Amethyst pulled her fingers out of her mouth. “Know what?”

“Peridot, you worked in Kindergartens!”

“Lapis, what are you getting at?”

“You’re both in heat. Y’know, estrus? One of you started it and set off the other one. And it’s making you both stink.”

Peridot felt a bit like the first time Lapis had dumped cold water on her head. “No. That’s not actually possible.”

Amethyst looked even more confused, and slowly sat up out of Peridot’s lap with a frown. “What are you guys talking about? Can someone tell me what’s going on?”

Peridot felt compelled to reach out and grab Amethyst’s hand. She squeezed back and the same relief Peridot was feeling washed over Amethyst’s face. _Oh._ Oh, _no._

Lapis rolled her eyes. “Lemme guess. You’ve felt hot and tired for a couple of days.”

Amethyst frowned. “....yes?”

Peridot groaned. “This can’t be happening. I’m Era Two. And Amethyst…”

“Was made before the war was over.”

“In a Kindergarten!”

“And we already know she turned out differently than the other amethysts in her Kindergarten.”

Amethyst squeezed Peridot’s hand so hard it hurt a little. “Does anyone wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Peridot cringed. Swallowed. Looked at the floor. “Gems...weren’t always made in Kindergartens. They. Uh. Um.”

Lapis sighed out loud. “Amethyst. Gems used to be born, not made. If two compatible gems were around each other long enough, one of them would go into heat, or estrus, and trigger the other one. They’d fuck constantly--pretty much the way humans do--for a few days, and then sometimes a year later you’d have another gem, usually the same kind as one of their parents. Y’know. Like humans. Did the Crystal Gems really never tell you that?!”

“No. Wait, gems can get pregnant?”

Lapis’s eyebrows went up. “How did you think Steven was made?”

“That’s different, he’s half human!”

Peridot jumped in. “The designs of gems were changed when we moved to Era Two. My default form doesn’t include all the...um, biology...required for it. You’re technically Era One, but we’d already been using Kindergartens for a long time by that point, and Kindergarten gems usually don’t have the biology either; that would defeat the point. It’s likely that none of the other gems in your Kindergarten ever went into heat.”

“So this is another way I’m ‘defective.’ Great.”

Peridot flinched.

Amethyst stood up and pulled her hand away.

Peridot let her, even though it felt like part of herself being torn away. At least when she’d lost her limb enhancers she hadn’t been conscious to feel it.

Amethyst clearly wasn’t doing much better, rubbing that hand with the other one while staring down at them with wide eyes, then self-consciously pulling them both into shaky fists by her sides. “This is too fucking weird for me to deal with. I’m gonna go back to the Temple.” She didn’t look at Peridot.

Peridot heard her walk out of the barn, and it took every bit of willpower she had not to chase after her. It hurt, it hurt so bad. She settled for hugging her knees to her chest, but it didn’t help at all.

Lapis sat on the couch, as far away from Peridot as possible. “Well, this is gonna be entertaining. I’m sure it smells great to the both of you, but it’s pretty gross to anyone else. Pearl and Garnet are gonna take one whiff of her and know. And judging by how cuddly you were, you’re both less than a day from your full heat.”

“I’ve never gone into estrus before. What’s going to happen?”

“Don’t you already know?”

“I know the physiological and mechanical basics of it, but it was always explained to us as something in the past we’d never have to deal with. It was mostly about how much of an improvement it was to use Kindergartens--how we could make adults now, and many gems at a time, of only the kinds we needed, and not lose days to copulating, or spending all that time being pregnant and giving birth and raising offspring, or upsetting the social order by reproducing with a gem above or below ourselves in status. It was all theoretical. I have no idea what it _feels_ like.” Peridot stole a glance at Lapis, whose face had softened into a little sympathy.

“Well, it’s already obviously painful for you to be away from each other, and that’s only going to get worse until you give in and get it over with, or you get more and more miserable and poof. But you already knew that.”

Peridot groaned and put her face down on her knees, until she thought of something and looked up.

“Have you ever gone into estrus?!”

Lapis smiled a little. “Yeah. A few times. I never got pregnant. But I got another gem pregnant once, part of Blue Diamond’s court, some agate. I don’t know what kind of gem she had. She was assigned to a mission on another colony shortly after she found out.”

“Do you miss her?”

She shrugged. “No. I barely knew her. We had a lot of fun for a few days, though. Look, Peridot--you both already like each other as more than just friends.”

Peridot’s face heated. “I don’t know that she likes me as more than a friend.”

“Your crush on Amethyst is visible from Homeworld, Peridot; you talk about her all the time and are always so excited to see her. I think the only person who hasn’t noticed is Amethyst. But I’ve seen the way she is around you. She likes you too. She’s just less obvious about it. Let her get used to the idea, that’s all, and you’ll be fine. In the meantime though, I think I’m going to spend the night on the roof. The barn really does smell awful.”

 

* * *

 

 

The light of the warp pad cleared, and Amethyst cringed: Pearl and Garnet were chatting with Steven in the kitchen. The gang’s all here. Great.

“Hullo, Amethyst! Uh, are you feeling okay?”

She must have looked as awful as she felt. Every step away from the barn had made her shakier.

“M’fine. Just tired.”

Pearl had her head in the refrigerator, but suddenly stood and turned around with one long sniff.

Garnet somehow became even more still but all of her attention was turned towards Amethyst.

“Amethyst? What on earth?” Pearl closed the door to the refrigerator. “Are you….no. It can’t be. Garnet?”

“Yeah. I noticed it too.”

Steven made a face. “Amethyst, did you get something on you? You smell weird.”

Amethyst’s face burned and she rubbed one of her arms as she walked towards the temple door. “Look, I’m just gonna go in my room, okay? Just...leave me alone.”

By herself in her own space, she drew a tiny amount of comfort from the familiar surroundings. She found the soft pile of things she liked to sleep in and lay down, her clothes disappearing in a flash--they felt awful.

Everything felt awful. Her hair touching her back felt scratchy. Her blankets felt rough and the pile was uneven and lumpy. She tossed and turned and felt hot and sweaty and then cold and clammy. Her body felt tired but she couldn’t sleep. She felt hungry for something but couldn’t think of anything she wanted to eat. She ached, somewhere deep inside; it started in her gem but went all the way through her.

And she couldn’t stop thinking about Peridot. She’d smelled like the most delicious thing she could imagine. It had snuck up on her, and then she just wanted to be touching Peridot, and Peridot had stroked her hair and it been the most wonderful thing--and now she felt terrible--

There was a damp spot on the blankets. She rolled over to get away from it and her thighs slid against each other. What the hell?

She touched inside of one thigh and it was slick. It wasn’t sweat, it was something else. She rubbed it between her fingers, and it was slippery. Without thinking she licked one finger. It tasted about how it smelled, weird but kinda good.

Where was it coming from? She sat up, arms shaking, and ran her hand up her thighs, to the place between her legs, and the first time she brushed against herself there she shivered. The shiver felt good, though, so she slid her fingers up and it happened again and she moaned a little.

She felt around, exploring. She’d looked at herself naked years ago, curious about what was there, and comparing it to the drawings and descriptions she’d seen in a book of human anatomy that Rose had found. Amethyst knew that the nub at the top that felt so weird when you touched it was her clitoris, that the folds that protected it were called labia. The only real obvious difference was that her vagina didn’t go anywhere. There was a shallow indentation, and that was it. All in all it hadn’t been very interesting, and the anatomy book was lost under some pile or another.

But now--everything felt different. Her labia were swollen and sensitive. It was all so wet and slippery. Touching her clitoris still felt too weird and intense, so she moved her fingers further down, and realized with a gasp that she could slide her fingers _in--_ and oh, oh, oh, that was it, that was the thing she wanted, it had to be, and she pushed two--no, three--fingers into herself and tried pressing part of her hand against her clitoris, oh, that was good, and she rocked into her hand, over and over, barely noticing how much more slick she was making, just knowing that if she could do it just right she’d feel better, she knew she would--

It wasn’t working. It just made the wanting worse. Her gem ached. Everything between her legs ached. Her breath caught and she was crying hot, angry, frustrated tears. She wiped her face with her other hand.

The worst part was, Amethyst knew who would make her feel better, and she’d run away like a coward, because here was yet another thing about gems and about herself that nobody had thought to tell her. It was humiliating.

But now it felt like there was a piece of her missing, and it was shaped like Peridot.

What was she going to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My original plan was to post a chapter per week, but unsurprisingly, I don't have the patience to wait that long. XD
> 
> Also, a reminder that fic writers live for comments and to talk about our stories! Questions, comments, keyboard-mashing, and gifs: we love them all.


	3. Chapter 3

The moment Pearl was onscreen, Lapis blurted out, “Why didn’t Amethyst know?” 

Pearl, standing in her room and holding Steven’s laptop, could barely make out Lapis’s face; she was sitting on top of the barn and lit only by the tablet and moonlight.

“It never came up! Why would it? She was from earth, made in a Kindergarten, long after we’d supposedly perfected that process. Gems almost never go into heat anymore; there was no reason to expect Amethyst to do so.” 

“Obviously, she wasn’t compatible with any of you.”

“There were only a few un-corrupted gems to choose from. It wouldn’t have been likely in any case.”

“True. Anyway, I don’t want them doing it here.”

“What?! They can’t do it here!”

“Why not?”

“First of all, I know from previous experience that unpleasant odors are perfectly capable of traveling from her room to everyone else’s. Also our rooms aren’t exactly soundproof. And Steven will ask questions!”

“So? Humans make more people by fucking. He knows about that by now, doesn’t he?”

Pearl could see her own face tinting pale blue in the corner of the screen. “Yes, Greg gave him that talk, and he’s with Greg now, but that’s not the same thing as hearing and smelling it happening in your house for multiple days.”

“Humans are so weird about sex.”

“I can’t argue with that. Anyway, why not the barn? It’ll air out pretty quickly. And you can always wash or burn whatever surface they use. Or surfaces.”

“Where am I going to go? The barn is my home, too.”

“You could always stay here? Part of the time, anyway. Hang out with Steven? Visit Beach City?”

“Fine. But you owe me. Anyway, how is Amethyst doing?”

Pearl’s face twisted a little. “I don’t know. I’ve been putting off talking to her. I’m afraid she’ll be angry with me.” 

“She probably will be. But you know she’s too miserable to do anything about it. You have to talk to her, or she’ll do something drastic and get herself cracked.”

“I know,” Pearl sighed. “How is Peridot?”

“Distracted and cranky. She didn’t even notice me taking her tablet.”

“I bet she didn’t. Well, I’ll go talk to Amethyst, and see how she feels about going back to the barn. I’ll let you know how it goes and what she decides.”

 

* * *

  
  


Peridot was curled up on the couch, hugging one of the cushions and oblivious to Lapis’s conversation--and almost everything else. She shoved her face into the cushion and breathed in hard, chasing down the last traces of Amethyst’s scent, unaware of how much she was making of her own. She was only aware of how badly she wanted to be with Amethyst, and an increasing throbbing ache between her legs. 

_ I should go to her. But what if she doesn’t want me? She liked being with me until Lapis came home. But then she went away. _ The last thought brought a fresh wave of agony and she whined into the couch cushion. 

_ She needs me. She doesn’t. If we were together we’d both feel better. But what if Lapis is wrong? She might rather-- _ (and Peridot couldn’t help the choked whine again at the thought)  _ \--she might rather be poofed than do this with me. _

She rolled the cushion over trying to find a spot that still smelled like Amethyst, and it brushed against the place that ached so much. It felt weird but good, so she did it again, and it was nice but she wanted more. She pushed a hand down between her legs and tried rubbing it and immediately regretted it, because that didn’t feel good at all--it jolted all over, like the prickle of being uncomfortably close to a destabilizer or a force field. She growled in frustration and restlessly rolled onto her back. 

Her normally-logical thought patterns were twisting in on themselves but all she could do was watch, helpless to stop them--

_ Maybe she doesn’t want to see me. But maybe she does. Wouldn’t she come back to the barn? Maybe Pearl and Garnet are keeping Amethyst from coming back. No, that’s not like them, that’s estrus making me irrational. But maybe they are. I don’t know for sure. I have to see her and find out. I have to see her. If she doesn’t want me I’ll go. But I have to see her. I have to see her  _ **_right now._ **

\--and moments later, she was running out of the door of the barn to the nearest warp pad on wobbly legs.

 

Lapis was sitting on the roof and watching a silly cat video, waiting for Pearl to call her back; when the flash of the warp pad caught her attention and she saw Peridot disappear. 

“Oh, for--” She closed the video and tried to call Pearl to warn them--not that it would matter by now--and got no answer.

“Well, I guess they’re gonna do it at the temple after all.”

 

* * *

  
  


“Amethyst? Where are you? Can we talk?”

Amethyst groaned. Pearl was pretty much the last person she wanted to see right now. But there was no use in hiding--Pearl was too persistent. She sat up and phased her clothes back on with a wince, and said, “Here, I’m right here.” 

Pearl’s head poked around a pile, and by the expression she made, Amethyst knew what she must look like: sweaty and flushed and her hair a disaster and her eyes still red from crying. She was leaking so much she yanked a blanket over her lap to hide how wet her leggings already were and resisted the urge to move around where she was sitting or start rubbing against her hand again. Instead she stuck her fingers in her mouth and sucked on them. Wait. No. Take them out. Pearl cleared her throat; she was standing fairly close now. Amethyst startled and tried to hide it by scowling. 

“I’m sorry you’re feeling….unwell.” 

“You mean you’re sorry I’m in heat and I’m stinking up the place.”

“It’s a very, ah, strong odor; I’m not going to deny that. But I came here to talk to you about what you’re going through and what you want to do about it.” Pearl sat down several feet away.

“Oh, please don’t fake sympathy for me, I can’t stand it.” Amethyst’s eyes stung with tears again.

“I’m not faking it. I’ve been where you are and it’s horrible. And the first one is the worst; no amount of explanation can really prepare you for what it feels like.”

“Yeah? Is that why you never told me anything about it?”

“We didn’t tell you about it because none of us thought it was going to happen--and it didn’t, for thousands of years. What would have been the point?” 

Amethyst wiped at her eyes again. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter now.”

“Did Peridot or Lapis tell you what’s going to happen?”

Even hearing Peridot’s name was enough to bring on a wave of painful wanting. Amethyst closed her eyes and tried to breathe through it, only to realize she’d started rocking a little and sucking on her fingers again. She yanked them out and forced herself to hold still and looked up at Pearl--but that knowing and sympathetic face was just too much and she had to look away again. “Um, no. I left before they could.” 

Pearl cleared her throat and spoke quickly. “You and Peridot have been around each other enough that your bodies have recognized your compatibility and theoretical ability to produce offspring. You’ve gone into estrus and triggered her body into doing the same. Because you went into heat first this time, you’ll soon develop a true vagina and lubricate a great deal.”

“That’s already happened and you know that,” she snapped. 

“Just let me finish, Amethyst, please.”

“Fine.” But it was a struggle to pay attention to Pearl’s know-it-all voice. 

“Thank you. If Peridot is in physical proximity to you now that your full heat is on, she will develop external genitals--a penis--in response to your internal genitals, and the two of you will be driven to copulate repeatedly for several days.”

“You mean have sex the way humans do?”

“There are a lot of similarities, yes. Do you have any questions?”

“What if Peridot doesn’t want me?” She didn’t know she was going to say it until she did, and immediately wished she hadn’t. Pearl’s eyes widened. 

“If gems in estrus don’t copulate, they continue to feel increasingly worse until they poof, unless someone poofs them before that. But, Amethyst, why wouldn’t Peridot want you?”

“Because I ran away!” She blinked away fresh tears. “And, and because I’m so gross right now! I want her so bad, and it hurts, and I can’t--if she doesn’t--you’d poof me, right?” 

Pearl’s sympathy must have overcome her disgust; she moved closer. “I won’t have to. You’re only in heat because of each other; she’s just as affected as you are. The both of you were already fond of each other even before this; everyone could see it. Trust me, Amethyst, your current state won’t change that. Now, why don’t we talk about getting you to the barn again?” 

But Amethyst didn’t hear the last sentence, because suddenly she  _ knew, _ like being struck by lightning, and she jumped up and was halfway to the door of her room when it opened to Peridot running off the warp pad and into her arms, and she sobbed with relief, and Peridot was hugging her back and petting her hair, and she could distantly hear Pearl saying something and Peridot saying something back but she didn’t know what and she didn’t care, she didn’t care, Peridot wanted her, Peridot had come to her! 

And Peridot smelled even better than Amethyst remembered, and just as the door closed behind Pearl leaving, Amethyst gratefully phased off her clothes again, and moaned as hot slick ran down one leg.

  
  


Pearl walked out of Amethyst’s room, the door shut behind her, and she sat down on the couch next to Garnet. 

“Well, Garnet, you were right. And when I tried to suggest maybe they should both go back to the barn, Peridot hissed and bared her teeth at me! Amethyst is on her full heat and Peridot’s nearly there. Good thing Steven’s already with Greg.”

“I’m not going to say ‘I told you so.’” Garnet smiled. 

“You just did! Do you think we should we stay here or go somewhere else?” 

“I’m going to stay here. They’ll be fine. You could go to the barn and spend time with Lapis. Or suggest another trip to Empire City.” 

“That’s an idea. Just make sure you keep the windows open unless it’s raining. There’s not enough air freshener on this planet.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of Pearl's lines in the first scene originally went: “There were only a few un-corrupted gems to choose from: another quartz, a fusion, and a pearl. It wouldn’t have been likely in any case.” I realized, re-reading everything before posting, that that's.....not actually true. But I also didn't want to place this fic in any particular part of the current storyline. So I cut out the list of gems. 
> 
> Spoiler alert: a good portion of the rest of this fic is sex. XD


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uhhh, this is where this fic starts earning that Explicit rating, as well as a bunch of the tags. We're getting to The Good Stuff.

Peridot’s head spun and her knees shook and her mouth watered. That delicious scent was everywhere, so strong it was intoxicating. Amethyst was rubbing her face in Peridot’s neck, breathing in deeply over and over as she was trying to press as much of her naked body against Peridot as possible. 

“Oh stars, oh my stars, we gotta find a place to lie down, Amethyst, Amethyst! Where can we lie down?” Amethyst didn’t say anything but grabbed one of Peridot’s hands and pulled her further into her room, until they went around a larger stack of junk and there was an area laid out with a messy pile of blankets and pillows. Peridot almost tripped several times, staring at Amethyst’s naked body. Amethyst lay down and gently pulled Peridot down next to her. 

Peridot didn’t know quite what to do now. But every part of her yearned--

“Are you okay?”

“M’better now that you’re here,” and Amethyst rolled over so she was half draped over Peridot, her face buried in Peridot’s neck again, and Peridot noticed her own leggings getting damp from where Amethyst was rubbing against them. Peridot slipped her hands through Amethyst’s hair and she responded with a shiver.

Peridot was increasingly aware of every sensation--the blankets under her, how warm Amethyst was where she touched Peridot, the cool air of the room against her skin where it was exposed, the silk of Amethyst’s hair in her fingers and brushing against her. But none more so than the way Amethyst smelled, so much stronger than back at the barn. It was the most amazing thing Peridot could think of, heavy and thick, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Her mouth watered so much she had to swallow repeatedly. 

She rolled them both over and pushed herself up a little to look at Amethyst. Her skin was damp with sweat and flushed darker; her ponytail was a mess. But her lips were parted and her pupils were big and she was looking at Peridot like Peridot was the most amazing and wonderful thing she’d ever seen, and Peridot suspected she was looking at Amethyst the same way, because Amethyst  _ was _ the most amazing and wonderful thing she’d ever seen. Amethyst was restless and impatient under her, moving her hands up and down Peridot’s sides and back, and Peridot felt hot every place Amethyst touched her, and she knew what she wanted but not quite how to get from here to there.

Peridot bent down and kissed Amethyst’s forehead, the sweat making her lips damp. She kissed each eyelid and felt Amethyst’s eyelashes flutter. It was easy and natural to kiss Amethyst’s lips after that. 

It took a half-second for Amethyst to react, but then she made a small noise, and turned her head a little and kissed back; at the same time that she wrapped her arms around Peridot’s back to pull her in. 

Why had she been too afraid to do this before? Lips sliding against lips, pressing and pulling away, doing it again at a slightly different angle, all while so much of their bodies were touching; it was hypnotic, she could do this for hours. Amethyst pushed her tongue into Peridot’s mouth, and it was gross but it felt amazing. Peridot tried doing it back and Amethyst moaned.

And Peridot might have kept kissing Amethyst’s full lips all night, but their bodies refused to let them forget the reason they were there. Amethyst had wrapped both of her legs around one of Peridot’s thighs and was rubbing herself on it, soaking Peridot’s leggings, and every time she pushed down, the place between Peridot’s legs throbbed painfully in response.

Peridot kissed Amethyst’s cheek, and then, remembering what Amethyst had done earlier, rubbed her face in Amethyst’s neck, inhaling deeply. That fantastic smell was stronger here, but she could tell that wasn’t where most of it was coming from. 

She moved to kiss further down. Peridot moved her hands around the mass of Amethyst’s heavy breasts and pushed them towards her mouth to suck on each of them in turn, lingering just long enough to know she liked the feeling of them in her mouth, and Amethyst watched her and whimpered and opened her legs.

Peridot moved down further, and looked down at Amethyst’s vulva, and at the slick that had spread from there to all over her thighs, and oh, this was where the smell was coming from, so compelling and seductive. She reached down and ran two shaky fingers in the mess along one thigh and stuck it in her mouth and made a needy little noise around her fingers—it tasted even better than it smelled, if that was possible; coating her tongue with that wonderful scent, filling her whole head with it. Peridot pushed Amethyst’s legs a little further apart as she moved to lie between them. She swiped her tongue up the inside of one of Amethyst’s thighs. Licked her lips and swallowed. Moved back in and pushed her tongue between the lips of Amethyst’s vulva and licked, covering half her own face in slick, filling her mouth. She wrapped an arm around one of Amethyst’s thighs and licked again, a little harder, from the bottom of her labia all the way to her clitoris, and groaned aloud. Above her she could hear Amethyst cursing and saying her name, and next to her face Amethyst’s thick thighs were twitching and jumping. 

Meanwhile the aching between Peridot’s legs became a sharper pain, like all her wanting had moved to one place, and that pain grew, and it pushed  _ out. _ Her uniform was now much too tight and uncomfortable, and she phased it off with relief before pulling away from Amethyst to look down. 

Peridot had been expecting this and wondering when in the process it would happen. It was nevertheless odd to see herself with a new appendage jutting out from her body, and it still ached a little but she barely noticed, driven to move up Amethyst’s body and lick her lips and moan, “Amethyst, I want you, please.”

Amethyst looked at her with wide eyes and said, “Oh, fuck.”

Peridot shuffled up on her knees, her new penis bobbing awkwardly. She leaned over, and Amethyst tilted her hips up and wrapped her legs around Peridot, and Peridot let Amethyst guide her in with one hand, too drunk on desire to have any coordination, sliding all way the way inside in one motion, eased by Amethyst's lubrication and eagerness. “Stars, oh my stars, ohhhh,” it was so wet and hot and enveloping; a pleasure she could feel with all of herself, and she fit inside like they were made exactly for each other.

Amethyst was nearly hyperventilating, her eyes closed and her lower lip between her teeth.

“Are you okay?” Amethyst only nodded in reply.

On some instinct she didn’t know she had, Peridot pulled out a little and pushed in again, and somehow that felt even better than the first time.

Amethyst must have felt the same, her eyes opened and she let out a surprised “Oh!”

“Is that good?”

“Yes!” So Peridot moved her knees to a better position and did it again, and again, pushing sweet sounds out of Amethyst with every stroke, and within a few minutes they caught an angle and a rhythm they both liked, Amethyst pulling her in over and over with her feet against Peridot’s backside and her hips rocking, looking up at her in a daze.

“Yes, yes, like that, yes!”

Peridot lost herself in the bliss of thrusting into Amethyst’s body, the look of ecstasy on Amethyst’s face, the sound of Amethyst’s voice praising her in broken phrases. It was the most wonderful thing to slide into Amethyst’s slick heat and know she was enjoying it just as much as Peridot was. She couldn’t help leaning down and kissing her again. 

The good feeling was growing, and Peridot started going faster, and Amethyst started to get tighter; she began grabbing at Peridot’s hips and pulling her in with a force approaching violence.

Peridot couldn’t have stopped even if she wanted to, it felt so good and kept getting better; she had to keep going, she might shatter if she stopped--but still Amethyst began nearly sobbing, “Oh fuck, give it to me, please, I need it, I need it, Peri, please!”  Peridot thrust hard several more times, and Amethyst threw her head back and gave a hoarse shout and contracted around Peridot, and Peridot shook and cried out as her orgasm took over, aware of nothing but the blinding euphoria of pouring herself inside out in response to Amethyst’s spasms, unable to move while Amethyst’s body took everything it could get from Peridot, and when it was over Peridot nearly collapsed on top of her.

She slowly came back to full consciousness, still inside Amethyst, her cheek squished against Amethyst’s gem. She wiped drool and a bit of Amethyst’s hair off of her face and swallowed around a dry throat and pushed herself up a little. Amethyst’s legs were still wrapped around Peridot, and she was heaving breaths with eyes half-closed. A twitch of an aftershock moved through her and then Peridot, making them cry out nearly in unison, and it gave Peridot the irresistible urge to thrust again.

“Amethyst, please, I have to--” she whined as she started to move.

“Yes, yes, I want it--” Amethyst panted, rolling her hips.

It only took half as long before Amethyst’s shouts became ragged and desperate and Amethyst wailed and Peridot was shaking and and coming again, her vision fuzzy at the edges as she panted. There was apparently was nothing left after that, because she softened a little and slipped out, followed by a hot gush of slick and come, and she let herself fall onto the blankets next to Amethyst, gasping and woozy. 

Peridot couldn’t help noticing the way it smelled—Amethyst’s heat slick mixed with her own come was satisfying and soothing in a way she couldn’t name. There was a small logical voice in the back of her head noting that it was actually a gross mess, but right now, a bigger part of her wanted everyone to smell it and know. 

It took a long moment for her to recover, for her breathing to slow and her mind to settle. She rolled onto her side to look at Amethyst. “How are you feeling?”

Amethyst turned towards her, and moved close enough to tangle their legs together. She looked weary but her smile was relaxed. “Good. I mean I’m tired and kinda sore and full and I feel like I’m leaking that goop stuff that was in your robonoids. But...nobody said it was gonna feel...like that. I just thought it would stop hurting.”

Peridot reached out and held one of Amethyst’s hands. “Actually it’s closer to the synthetic substance that’s in Kindergarten injectors, but...yeah. I didn’t know it would feel like that either.”  _ Good _ was a ridiculous understatement, but she couldn’t be bothered to think of something better. Maybe later, when she wasn’t so tired.

“How many times are we gonna do that?”

“I don’t know. Estrus usually lasts a few days, though. I wonder why; I would think there was enough ejaculate to impregnate the first time.”

“God, no kidding. But do gems always get pregnant from this? I mean, Era One gems with all the stuff.”

“No. That was part of the reason we started building kindergartens--estrus cycles were unpredictable and fairly rare and didn’t always result in pregnancy, and on top of that you didn’t know which gem you’d get. I mean usually it was like one parent or the other, but not always. Homeworld wanted a way to make more gems and only the gems it wanted.”

“Homeworld always sounds really shitty.”

“Mmm. I keep finding more things that seemed totally normal at the time but are, as you say, ‘really shitty.’” 

“Why are you able to go into heat with me, anyway? You said earlier you don’t have all the biology for it.” 

“I dunno. I guess it wouldn’t be the first time Homeworld lied to me about what I could and couldn’t do. Because Homeworld is shitty.” Peridot’s words were slurred with sleepiness, and the small smile Amethyst gave her for swearing was with eyes slowly blinking closed. 

Amethyst broke into a huge yawn and Peridot did as well. Drowsiness was another new sensation, but Peridot didn’t have much time to think about it as she slid into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the part of the fic I re-wrote and edited (and then re-wrote, and edited again...) the most. Phew! But this is easily the fic I've worked the hardest on, ever.
> 
> And there's still two more chapters!
> 
> Feel free to respond to this with gifs. Or screaming. Go anon if you gotta. ;D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first scene of this chapter starts with stuff that could be considered dubious consent, click to the end notes for details if you need them.

Amethyst woke up disoriented, even though she was in her own room. She’d woken up any number of places that others considered to be unusual--she’d been compared to a cat on multiple occasions. But she’d never woken up with a deep aching need between her legs. Amethyst opened her eyes.

She’d also never woken up next to Peridot before. Peridot’s face was slack, and so was her hand where they’d fallen asleep holding them. Amethyst gently squeezed, but Peridot didn’t stir. 

“Hey, wake up.” Peridot’s hand twitched, her eyelashes moved once, but that was all. “Please, Peridot.” Nothing. 

She was so terribly empty. Amethyst sat up a little and pushed Peridot’s shoulder, rolling her onto her back. Peridot was hard again, even in her sleep, and Amethyst straddled Peridot and gasped as her vulva slid against it, pressing it flat against Peridot’s abdomen. She put her hands on either side of Peridot’s head and slid back and forth several times against her, oh, that was wonderful, but it wasn’t what she really wanted, so she reached down and grabbed Peridot and knelt up just enough to move down onto her with a groan of pleasure, and Peridot inhaled sharply and her eyelids fluttered open.

“M’sorry, Peri, I needed it so bad,” but Peridot just blinked up at her and moved her hands to loosely hold Amethyst’s hips, and when Amethyst started moving, her jaw dropped and a loud noise burst from her. Amethyst moved up and down on Peridot, her loose hair moving around them, grunting with the exertion of it, and Peridot was moving, barely holding on, barely keeping the rhythm, scrabbling to get more leverage to fuck up into Amethyst, and Amethyst’s awareness soon contracted to where Peridot was pushing into her, not caring about her burning thighs or the sounds both of them were making, winding tighter and tighter, until she was holding onto that moment of impossible tension for what seemed like an age before it released in spasms, Peridot’s body responding in kind as she shouted, fingers digging into her hips, and filling her up more than she thought she could stand.

Amethyst eventually blinked down at Peridot and realized they were still moving. Her hips were grinding down on Peridot’s, and she was still twitching inside with little spasmic echoes, and she couldn’t stop, and Peridot whimpered at every motion, still moving with her, looking up at her helplessly, until Amethyst came again, just as intense as the last one, her shouts getting hoarser as Peridot whined and whined through it, eyes rolled up and back arched. When it was over Amethyst realized she was drooling and had to wipe it away with a shaking hand. 

She moved on stiff knees and Peridot slipped out of her with another hot splat and neither of them cared. 

She lay down facing Peridot, and they stared at each other as they caught their breath, but even still, she could hardly bear the physical distance between them.

Peridot must have felt the same. “Can you roll over?” When she did, Peridot scooted up behind her, and wrapped an arm around her waist, then pushed her loose hair up to nuzzle and kiss her neck before relaxing with a sigh.

“Mmmm, this is nice.” It was soothing to be this close, their bodies fitting together like matching spoons. But now that she was a little calmer again, a thought still gnawed at her. 

“Peri?”

“Hm?”

“D’you think I’m gonna get pregnant?”

“I don’t know. Do you want to be pregnant?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never even thought about it. I mean, I remember popping out of the ground, a little, and I was already this size. It’s weird to think of a gem that’s an actual baby. Like, I’ve shape-shifted into a baby, but that’s not the same.”

“Steven was a baby,” Peridot said and yawned. 

“Half-human. Not the same thing. He was pretty much a human baby with a gem on his belly. I should show you pictures some time. It was so big compared to the rest of him.” 

Peridot made a non-committal noise behind her, and soon after her breathing became soft as she fell asleep. 

Amethyst fought to stay awake and tried to imagine a baby gem. Maybe an amethyst like her. Did baby gems eat? Did they sleep? Steven cried a lot as an infant, just like a human baby; would a baby gem cry a lot? 

Steven was still pretty cute sometimes. A baby gem might be pretty cute. 

An image came to her mind--Peridot, smiling at a small purple infant in her arms. Oh. That was a new feeling. Weird but maybe good. 

Maybe it was just estrus, making her feel this way. But did it matter? 

They were both different than they were “supposed” to be. That wasn’t so bad. Earth was a good place to be different. And being different was what brought them together. Whatever happened would be good, because being different together with Peridot was good. 

She put her hands over Peridot’s at her waist, and let herself drift to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Amethyst woke up to the sensation of fluids trickling down her thigh onto the blankets under them. When would she get used to it? Amethyst moved one hand down and wiped some of the goo off one thigh, and opened her eyes to look at it as she rubbed it between her fingers. Peridot’s come was viscous and translucent white and its scent was so similar to the delicious one Peridot gave off that she sucked the goo off of one finger. It was interesting: tart and slightly metallic. It also made her twitch inside in a good way, like a weak orgasm. She experimentally sucked on another finger and it happened again.  

“What’re you doing?” Peridot’s voice was sleepy. 

“Tasting the stuff you’re making.”

“S’called semen.” 

“I know. Humans call it ‘come’ sometimes, though. It’s making me have little mini-orgasms.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, you wanna try it?” Amethyst wiped more of it, and twisted around a little to put her hand up to Peridot’s face. 

Peridot closed her mouth around two fingers. “Mmmnguh,” she said, her eyes half-lidded. 

“What was that?” 

Peridot didn’t answer at first, too busy sucking on Amethyst’s fingers, trying to get as much of them in her mouth as she could. It was mesmerizing to watch and even better to feel.

“Oh, stars, that tastes like both of us,” she moaned, releasing Amethyst’s fingers from her mouth.

Peridot moved one of her own hands to between Amethyst’s legs to collect some from where it was dripping down one thigh, sucking it off noisily and moaning around her hand. She did it again and smeared a handful up across Amethyst’s belly. Did it again and rubbed it into one of Amethyst’s breasts with a slippery hand. 

“Mine, mine, you’re mine,” Peridot growled into her, and Amethyst felt her getting hard again, and her own body responding with fresh desire.

When Peridot reached for more come, Amethyst pulled Peridot’s hand towards her mouth and sucked it off Peridot’s fingers herself, and Peridot made a needy sound and slid against Amethyst’s vulva, rutting blindly into the slick mess. 

Amethyst arched her back, reached down, and guided Peridot into her, and it was good, but it still wasn’t enough; she had no leverage at this angle.

“Wait, Peri, hold on,” and she rolled on to her stomach and then pushed up on to her elbows and knees. Peridot scrambled after her, and when she pushed back in completely they both moaned with relief and began fucking in earnest. How could this still feel so good? Amethyst rocked back and forth on her knees, encouraging Peridot to go at the pace she wanted, arching her back so that Peridot was moving inside of her in just the right place, oh, that was perfect--

Every time their thighs met there was a wet smacking sound, but Amethyst was oblivious to it, focused only on her approaching orgasm, and Peridot’s hands tight on her hips, and Peridot panting “Mine, mine, mine!”

“Oh yes, oh yes, yes, yes,  _ ah!”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re: dubious consent: Amethyst initiates sexual activity while Peridot is still asleep. Peridot wakes up quickly and is into it, but they didn't negotiate that beforehand. In general for this fic it's safe to assume they're both enthusiastic participants once they got started, but they're not talking about everything as they go the way you should in real life.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaah I can't believe I'm actually done with this fic. It feels odd to finally have it out in the world instead of the google doc tab(s) I've had open for over a year!

Peridot came back to herself spooning Amethyst again, both arms tightly wrapped around Amethyst’s waist, her hands holding Amethyst’s, her face against Amethyst’s sweaty back.

“Amethyst?”

“Hm?”

She cleared her throat. “Consuming our mixed bodily fluids appears to, uh--”

“Make us really horny and make you kinda possessive?”

“...Yes. I’m not sure I like it. The possessive part, I mean.”

Amethyst rolled over and took Peridot’s hands in hers again. “It’s okay.”

“I don’t own you. You’re not a pe--I mean, you don’t exist just for me.”

Peridot closed her eyes. It was easier to talk about without looking at her. “I felt it earlier, too; before Pearl left. She wanted us to go to the barn, but she was too close, and I hissed at her. Logically I know Pearl isn’t any kind of threat to us and wouldn’t try to separate us, but I--I think I’d shatter anyone who took you away from me. Estrus is so strange. It’s not just the sex. I can’t stand for us not be in constant physical contact. I suppose it makes sense for gems in a reproductive cycle to dislike being separated, but the way it feels--I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I can’t stand it either.” Amethyst squeezed her hands. “I don’t mind you being like that when it’s happening. It feels so good for you to want me. And I don’t want to be away from you.”

“I don’t want to be away from you either. And I don’t just mean in estrus. I mean all the time. Amethyst, I--I like hanging out with you and and doing things with you and just being with you. I’m glad that--If this was gonna happen, that it happened with you.”

“I’m glad, too. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.”

Peridot opened her eyes. Amethyst was looking down at their clasped hands.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Amethyst met Peridot’s gaze with shiny eyes, then leaned in just enough to kiss her. Then she curled up so that her face was tucked into Peridot’s neck, Peridot’s arm around her back, and sleep tugged at them both, and they gave in easily.

 

* * *

 

They lost all sense of time, moving in and out of sleep and sex and cuddling and talking. The sex wasn’t always frenzied rutting, and slowed down enough for them to find all the ways they liked to kiss and touch each other, and they were able to stay awake longer each time. They found a relatively clean blanket on the edge of their nest and wrapped up in it for a nap--only to promptly make a mess of it the next time they woke up.

Neither of them knew it was the last time that first cycle, but something was different and they could both feel it. Peridot moved slowly on top of Amethyst, pushing a breast towards her face to lick and suck, and the dim light of the room sparkled in Amethyst’s gem at the corner of Peridot’s vision.

She pulled back and looked down at the gem at the top of Amethyst’s chest. She knew that her gem, deep and purple, was really Amethyst herself, and the thought of it made her reverently trace the outline of it with her fingertips, then lean down and gently kiss it. Amethyst gasped and shivered.

“Holy crap, that’s kind of intense.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah, but here, lemme show you.” Amethyst brushed her fingers against Peridot’s gem, and however odd that felt, it was nothing to when Amethyst gently pulled Peridot’s face towards her, to put her lips on Peridot’s gem.

“Oh. Oh!” It was like Amethyst was kissing every part of her at once, inside and outside; a kiss not just of desire but of every kind of intimacy. Peridot’s gem was small enough that Amethyst could cover the whole exposed part with her lips, and Peridot returned the favor as best she could, sliding her wet mouth over the edge of Amethyst’s gem while still moving inside of her.

“Wait, Peri, hold on, I wanna try something,” and Peridot pulled back just as Amethyst slipped a hand down between them, then brought it up, and looked Peridot in the eyes as she smeared their mixed come first on her own gem, and then on Peridot’s. She put her hands on either side of Peridot’s face and kissed her on the mouth, then reached up to kiss her gem again. Peridot did the same, knowing the taste would bring back the urgency of several days ago.

Amethyst moaned around Peridot’s gem and the sensation made Peridot shudder; it was so overwhelming; it was almost more than Peridot could stand, and she knew she was still moving and she knew she was making sounds, but she was lost, unable to tell where her form ended and Amethyst’s began, subsumed into something they were together. She heard someone cry out and wasn’t sure who, and didn’t know who came first, just that it echoed back and forth, over and over, before fading away in waves like the outgoing tide.

 

And Peridot wiped tears off her face (at least, she thought it was her own face) and asked, “Is that what fusion feels like?”

And Amethyst replied, so close and quiet and raw: “No. Fusion is easier.”

 

* * *

 

 

Amethyst dreamed she was in her room, surrounded by all of her favorite things to eat stacked up in piles. But she didn’t want any of them. She was looking for something else. She was searching through her room for the thing she wanted; she couldn’t find it, and the entire Big Donut building was in her room, and she walked around to the back to look for the thing she wanted, where was it? And somehow behind the Big Donut was her Kindergarten, and she was still looking, and starting to get increasingly anxious, because she knew had to find the thing she was looking for but she didn’t know what it was. She looked up and the walls of the Kindergarten stretched so high that they never seemed to end, and she was running, where is it? But then she turned a corner and there was her old familiar hole. And she ran towards her hole, because she knew the thing she was looking for was there! And when she got there she stopped, because inside her hole was Peridot. But then she knew--yes!--Peridot was the thing she’d been looking for! And Peridot didn’t have her limb enhancers, but she still seemed bigger than usual, and Peridot was laughing, and holding Amethyst in her arms and kissing her, right there in Amethyst’s hole, and Amethyst laughed back, she hadn’t felt this safe or loved in such a long time, and Amethyst was so full of a peaceful joy that she’d forgotten even existed--and she knew that she had to tell Rose--but she’d never be able to tell Rose--

\--and she woke up with a strangled cry.

Amethyst’s eyes opened to wide green ones, Peridot’s face mere inches away, looking at her with concern.

“Amethyst! Were you visualizing negative things in your sleep? You were twitching and then quiet and then you made an unhappy sound.”

She didn’t answer immediately, but rolled over to hug Peridot and tucked her head under Peridot’s chin.

“I’m okay. Or I will be. Just hug me and give me a minute.”

“I can do that.”

Small arms around her, soothing and grounding, not completely unlike her dream; and Amethyst steadied her breathing. In through her nose, out through her mouth, in through her nose--

“Holy crap, we smell funky.”

“Um. Yes. I believe our estrus cycle is over.”

Amethyst moved back and slowly sat up. “Ngah. This is gross, even for me. I’m sticky everywhere. Ugh, it’s even in my hair!” She pulled her fingers out of a particularly tangled spot.

“I woke up just before you, and yeah, the mess is no longer pleasant or arousing at all. And I want to reform my clothing but not until I’m clean.”

Amethyst looked over. Peridot was sitting up, still naked. And blushing. And just as sticky.

“Hah, you don’t have a penis anymore. Did you feel that happening?”

“No, I was asleep. I also don’t feel driven to mate anymore, do you?”

“I guess not. I feel pretty normal, other than being achy and covered in ick. You?

“I’m sore all over and I feel gross, but I’m otherwise fine.”

“I’d say we could use the water in my room to wash up but it’s connected to Pearl’s room, and if we stink up her place more than we already did she’ll never forgive us. I think we should probably use Steven’s bathroom. And then I want to eat everything in the fridge.”

Amethyst stood up and wrapped one of the dirty blankets around her. Peridot did the same, but was looking at the ground.

“Hey, Peridot.”

“Yes?”

Amethyst tucked one end of her blanket so it would stay up, and then put her hands on either side of Peridot’s face and gently kissed her.

She pulled back, just barely, to see Peridot’s face.

Peridot was smiling, and opened her eyes to look back at her. “Kissing still feels just as nice. I’d like to continue doing that, going forward, if you’re amenable.”

“Yeah. I’d like that. A lot.”

Several more kisses later, Peridot said, “But I do really want to wash myself.”

“Okay, okay, we’ll go do that now.”

 

 

Garnet was sitting on the couch, and had a novel open but wasn’t reading it, when the temple door opened, and two small, odorous gems wrapped in blankets stepped out, made eye contact, and stopped.

“Oh! Garnet. Hi.” Amethyst was smiling shyly. Peridot just flushed.

“Hello Amethyst, Peridot, you look like you’re feeling much better.”

“Uh, yeah, we are.”

Garnet smiled. “Steven and Pearl are at the barn until tomorrow. You have plenty of time to shower and then air out the house, as well as get most of your blankets in the wash. You should hang them up outside to dry. The weather will be good.”

“Thanks. We’re, uh, gonna take that shower now.”

She looked back at her novel and heard four small bare feet patter into the bathroom, followed by the shower starting to run. Moments later there was a discussion about washing Amethyst’s hair. (“Does Steven even have enough shampoo?” “Maybe we could try using soap instead?”) Then giggling and a high-pitched squeal.

Garnet picked up the phone on the table and made a video call to Peridot’s tablet. The ringing stopped and the view moved around and she heard Lapis say, “Pretty sure it’s for you,” before Pearl’s face came on screen.

“Garnet! How did it go? Are they done?”

“Yes. Everything went as expected. You and Steven should wait until tomorrow to come home. And Amethyst isn’t pregnant this time.”

“What do you mean, _this time?_ ” Pearl squawked, but it was too late. Garnet had hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic exists because I whined to berlynn-wohl that I couldn’t figure out how to write omegaverse (aka a/b/o) fic for Steven Universe, and she pointed out that there’s popular fics out there about Transformers laying eggs, so I could definitely write Steven Universe omegaverse if I really wanted to do it. It still took me forever to find a workable set of headcanons/backstory for this that I was happy with; I put way too much effort into wordbuilding and biology for a sloppy fuck-or-die.
> 
> (I'm grateful to berlynn in general--her own fics are often wild and weird AU's. She inspires me to write whatever strange and self-indulgent things I think of, and I can only hope to someday write them as well as she does.)
> 
> I did end up throwing out some of the things that define omegaverse, like inborn secondary sex and knotting, which is why it’s not tagged for it; but I kept the things I liked best--going into heats that cause overwhelming sexual desire to the point of discomfort/pain, an obsession with smells/scents, and the sex being really messy, both in regards to lubrication and ejaculate. 
> 
> The idea that gems used to reproduce sexually and started using Kindergartens as an alternative is in a number of SU fics, but I think I saw it first in usuallybutts’ A Long Way from Home. It works very differently in her version, though. 
> 
> Much of the rest of it was inspired by the people of the planet Gethen in Ursula K LeGuin’s novel The Left Hand of Darkness and (especially) the short story Coming of Age in Karhide--most notably, the concepts of having no libido or sexual desire whatsoever outside of being in heat (or as she called it, kemmer), and of being induced into having one set of genitals or the other by the presence of someone else during the beginning of heat/kemmer. (Gethenians, like the gems, are all the same sex/gender.)
> 
> One last thank you to my beta anarfea--this fic would have never been finished without her. 
> 
> And yes, I’ve been working on a sequel. :D


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